Preview: Scotland v England

England are preparing themselves for a pitch battle in more ways than one when they face Scotland for the Calcutta Cup at Murrayfield on Saturday.

England are preparing themselves for a pitch battle in more ways than one when they face Scotland for the Calcutta Cup at Murrayfield on Saturday.

It was at the Edinburgh ground where England coach Stuart Lancaster began his time in charge of the national side with a hard-fought 13-6 win two years ago.

They now head north on the back of an agonising 26-24 defeat away to France in the first round of the Six Nations, a loss that prolonged the wait for a first Red Rose Grand Slam since England's World Cup-winning year of 2003.

But Lancaster was sufficiently encouraged by the way England, who had been 3-16 down early on, rallied to lead 24-19 before losing to Gael Fickou's converted try three minutes from time, to name an unchanged matchday party for the first time in his 23 Tests in charge.

The only lingering fitness doubt concerned Gloucester wing Jonny May, who went off early at the Stade de France with a broken nose.

"It's good to be able to select the same players and they are all determined to put last week's result behind us and build on the performance," said Lancaster.

England showed plenty of ambition in Paris, not always a quality associated with the men in white shirts, and it will be interesting to see if they can play the same sort of game on Saturday, with captain Chris Robshaw determined they shouldn't suffer another "plucky" defeat.

But the fact that England haven't scored more than 15 points at Murrayfield since 2004 tells the story of how Scotland, whatever else may be happening, can always rouse themselves for rugby's oldest international match.

And the fact Scotland, once more paying the price for a back division lacking a cutting edge, were well beaten 28-6 by Ireland in Dublin last weekend will provide additional motivation.

"Scotland will be hugely motivated by their defeat in Dublin and, as we found two years ago, Murrayfield is a tough place to play," said Lancaster.

"Fusaro is picked to do a certain role and we believe there's an opportunity for him to do it," Johnson said.

"England are powerful, they have an edge to their side and are assertive and aggressive," the Australian added.

"They will probably consider themselves unlucky last weekend but it's not always brute force that wins these games."

In a bid to find an elusive spark behind the scrum and so help Scotland end a run of four straight defeats by England, Edinburgh centre Matt Scott has been promoted from the bench with Tommy Seymour replacing injured New Zealand-born wing Sean Maitland.

Bad weather has often been a key factor in the quality of Calcutta Cup rugby and, should the forecast rain arrive, the 132nd Scotland-England clash may well be something of a slog.

However, a new and worrying dimension is the state of the once pristine Murrayfield pitch.

The grass at the Edinburgh ground has come under attack from parasitic nematodes this season, making scrums in particular a dangerous lottery, with the packs struggling to keep their footing on the loose turf and even backs in open play undone by the poor surface.

This week saw the Scottish Rugby Union announce plans to install a new hybrid pitch at Murrayfield in time for next season, but that may be scant consolation to the players in action on Saturday.

"I hope I'm wrong but I do have concerns that the state of the pitch will have a big influence over who wins," former Scotland prop Peter Wright told the Daily Mail.

"Such an important game could be decided by a player losing his footing at the set-piece and giving away a penalty. That shouldn't be the way a team wins a Six Nations match."

Players to watch:

For Scotland: Four of the top six tacklers in Round One were Scottish, with Duncan Weir and Tim Swinson each making
15 tackles, Alex Dunbar 14 and Ryan Wilson 13. Stuart Hogg had a good attacking day despite Scotland’s defeat, being the top off-loader with four, equal top in clean breaks with three, and second in defenders beaten with six.

For England: Despite being on the pitch for only 14 minutes against France in Paris Ben Morgan beat four defenders and made 45 metres for England. Jack Nowell, on his Test debut made the second most metres of any player in the opening weekend with 81 metres from 10 carries. Danny Care dropped his second goal in the Championship, also doing so against Scotland in 2009. The only other scrumhalf to have dropped a goal in the Six Nations was Morgan Parra against Ireland in 2010.

Head to head: They may not be the two most celebrated fullbacks in the competition, but Stuart Hogg (Scotland) and Mike Brown (England) are both exciting with ball in hand. Obviously in any game possession is the key - which means the forwards hold the key. Should there be anything close to parity in the possession stakes then flyhalves Duncan Weir (Scotland) and Owen Farrell (England) will be the men that could decide the outcome.

Prediction: Scotland have three times before bounced back after an opening weekend defeat in the Six Nations to record a victory in Round Two, but the Scots have won just two of their last 11 matches in the Championship - both last year, against Italy and Ireland in Rounds Two and Three. England’s 24-26 reversal at the Stade de France was their second defeat in successive Test matches; they have not lost three in a row since the year-end internationals of 2008. Given the quality of their respective rosters, we feel England will just have too much firepower and Scotland will fade in the second half. England to win by 15 points or more.